There’s no such thing as a day off for the south-west’s hardest working country-inflected indie rock band. With a list of February and March dates longer than both of my arms there’s no resting on their laurels, (whatever that phrase might mean), and now, to add to that, they’ve somehow managed to find the time to sling another single out as well.
‘Teeth’ comes about half a year in the wake of their excellent debut full length West Country, and it’s everything we’ve come to expect from Langkamer and then some. It’s another distillation of their specific and compelling brand of Avon Americana – suitably energetic and slightly off-kilter; tongue-in-cheek with it’s heart in the right place. The riffage in the left ear is appropriately crunchy and the prairie wails of the right guitar have all the vivid colour of a sunset on the ranch.
What always strikes me about Langkamer is their vocal production – multiple takes are stacked delicately atop each other and blended with the drums in such a way that befits their stage setup and imbues their work with a subtle dreaminess. Between this track and the record there’s some fabulous continuity of percussion as well – wide panned bongo and shaker are deployed in the bridge and keeps things energetic. Langkamer have always been very good at bridges and show no signs of slacking off any time soon.
Particularly impressive is the reported brevity of the track’s conception and the efficiency of its production – the track was written in basically half an hour and put together in the span of two weeks. This all demonstrates that Langkamer are clearly a band at the top of their game with no plateau in sight; a jewel in Bristol’s crown. Here at Wax, though, we are still holding out hope for that ambient-country album.
Words: Ed Hambly // Photo: Levana Magnus
‘Teeth’ is out now on Bathroom Records. Stream and download the track on Bandcamp.